Parking brake operating device for vehicle

ABSTRACT

A parking brake operating device for vehicle, wherein a vehicle is held by a specified braking force by manually rotating a brake lever ( 2 ), a held state is released by rotatingly operating the brake lever ( 2 ) upward by a specified amount from the held state, and the braking force can be changed to an increasing side and held by further raising the brake lever upward from the held state beyond the specified amount, whereby a release operation can be performed without using a push button or a push rod.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a manual parking brake operating devicefor a vehicle.

BACKGROUND ART

As a general parking brake operating device for a vehicle, a manualoperating device Z₀ as shown in FIG. 17 is conventionally known. Thedevice Z₀ comprises a bracket 101 secured to a vehicle body and a lever102 pivoted on the bracket 101 for rotational movement in a verticaldirection by a pivot pin 111. The bracket 101 has pawl teeth 109arranged along an arc about the pivot pin 111.

The lever 102 has a base end part to which an arcuate cable guide 112about which a brake wire 113 is trained is secured. When the lever 102is lifted from a non-operative position shown by solid lines to anoperative position shown by broken lines in FIG. 17, the brake wire 113is pulled and a required operating force is applied to a brake (notshown) via the brake wire 113. A pawl member 107 is swingably supportedon the lever 102 by a pin 106. A latch pawl 108 of the pawl member 107is selectively locked with one of the pawl teeth 109 of the bracket 101,whereby an operating force corresponding to a rotational position of thelever 102 is maintained.

The lever 102 has a hollow part 110 therein and a push rod 104 forreleasing the locking engagement of the latch pawl 108 with the pawltooth 109 is provided in the hallow part 110. At the time of thereleasing operation, a push button 105 projected from an end of thelever 102 is pressed with the lever 102 slightly lifted (namely, in astate where a meshing force generated between the pawl teeth 109 and thelatch pawl 108 by a tensile force of the brake wire 113 is released toallow the push rod 104 to be pressed) to apply a rotational force in adirection to release the locking engagement to the pawl member 107 viathe push rod 104, thereby releasing the locking engagement of the latchpawl 108 with the pawl teeth 109.

When a braking force is thought to be insufficient (namely, when thebrake is thought to be working insufficiently) after lifting operationof the lever 102 has been conducted to set the braking force, a desiredbraking force can be obtained by further lifting the lever 102. In FIG.12, reference numeral 103 indicates a grip provided around the lever102.

The manual parking brake operating device Z₀ as above has the followingproblems:

(1) Since the brake operating device Z₀ is so constituted that the brakeis released by pressing the push button 105, there is a possibility thatthe push button 105 is pressed by mistake during parking with the lever102 lifted to exert a prescribed braking force and the braking force isunexpectedly released against the driver's will.

(2) In order to arrange the push rod 104 in an end part of the lever102, at least a part of the lever 102 near the end must be formed into acylindrical shape. As a result, the workability of the lever 2 is poor,causing increase in cost. Additionally, the shape of the lever 102imposes a limitation on design of the grip 103 provided over the endpart of the lever 2, so that the freedom in the design of the grip 103is hindered.

(3) Since the push rod 104 is disposed in the lever 102, the lever 102must be formed into as linear a shape as possible from the base end partto the end part in order to ensure a proper action of the push rod 104,so that the degree of freedom in layout of the operating device Z₀ on avehicle is unavoidably low.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of theconventional manual operating device for a vehicle parking brake.

According to the present invention, there is provided a brake operatingdevice for a vehicle having a vehicle body provided with a brake,comprising:

a mounting bracket secured to said vehicle body;

a lever pivoted to said bracket so as to be rotated between first andsecond positions manually and operatively connected to said brake sothat a braking force corresponding to an amount of rotation from saidfirst position toward said second position is exerted on said brake;

a pawl teeth member having pawl teeth and secured to one of said bracketand said lever;

a latch pawl member supported on the other of said bracket and saidlever and having a latch pawl engageable with said pawl teeth of saidpawl teeth member,

said latch pawl member being movable between a locked position in whichsaid latch pawl is in locking engagement with said pawl teeth and anunlocked position in which said locking engagement of said latch pawlwith said pawl teeth is released,

said latch pawl member assuming said locked position, when said lever isrotated from said first position toward said second position, tomaintain said lever in a rotational position and assuming said unlockedposition, when said lever is further rotated from said rotationalposition toward said second position by a prescribed amount, to releasesaid locking engagement of said latch pawl with said pawl teeth so thatsaid lever may be allowed to rotate in either direction; and

a position changing member supported on the other of said bracket andsaid lever by a single pin and adapted for shifting said latch pawlmember from said unlocked position to said locked position when saidlever is further rotated from said rotational position toward saidsecond position beyond said prescribed amount.

Description will be next made of the present invention in detail withreference to the drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a general view illustrating an operating devise for a vehicleparking brake according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an on-assemblingstate of main component parts of the brake operating device shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a latch pawl member shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a position changing member shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 in a non-released condition;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 during braking operation;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 in a maintained state;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 in an unlocked state;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 during transition from the unlocked state to thenon-released state;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 during rebraking operation from the unlocked state;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view illustrating the brake operating deviceshown in FIG. 1 in a state immediately after the rebraking operation;

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a brake operatingdevice according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view illustrating a first modification of thedevice shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view illustrating a second modification of thedevice shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view illustrating a third modification of thedevice shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 16 is the perspective view illustrating a fourth modification ofthe device shown in FIG. 12; and

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional operatingdevice for a vehicle parking brake.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafterdescribed in detail with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows a parking brake operating device Z₁ according to a firstembodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows component partsthereof in a disassembled state. The brake operating device Z₁ ismanually operated and comprises a bracket 1, a lever 2, a pawl teethmember 3, a latch pawl member 4, and a position changing member 5, whichwill be described below.

Mounting Bracket 1:

The mounting bracket 1, which is fixedly disposed on a body of a vehicle(a floor part of the vehicle, for example), is formed by appropriatelybending a plate material having a required thickness and comprises amain body 21 having a shape of generally oblong rectangle, a pair offront and rear fixing parts 22 and 22 extending sideward from front andrear ends, respectively, of the main body 21 and a flat plate-shapedguide part 23 formed at a front end of the main body 21. A pin hole 24,in which a pivot pin 11 for rotatably supporting a hereinafter describedlever 2 is fitted, is formed at a position near the rear end of the mainbody 21 of the bracket 1. At a position near an upper front end of themain body 21 of the bracket 1 is secured a hereinafter described pawlteeth member 3.

Pawl Teeth Member 3:

The pawl teeth member 3 is integrally formed of an arcuate platematerial and has a plurality of pawl teeth 3 a on an outer peripherythereof and a guide part 3 b comprising a lower level surface continuingfrom the pawl teeth 3 a. The pawl teeth member 3 is secured to the mainbody 21 of the bracket 1 with the pawl teeth 3 a directed outward. Thepawl teeth 3 a are arranged along an arc about the pivot pin 11 fittedin the pin hole 24.

Lever 2:

The lever 2 comprises a base end part 2 a formed by bending a platematerial into a U-shape, an end part 2 b continuously extending forwardfrom a front end of the base end part 2 a and having a cylindricalshape, and a grip provided over the end part 2 b. The base end part 2 ahas a pair of parallel side plates 2 a ₁ and 2 a ₂ opposed with eachother with a prescribed gap defined therebetween. Each of the pairedside plates 2 a ₁ and 2 a ₂ has a pin hole 31 at a position near a rearend thereof, a pin hole 32 at a position near a lower front end thereof,a pin hole 33 at a position near an upper front end thereof, and aspring receiving hole 34 at a midpoint between the pin holes 32 and 33.The pin holes 31 and 31, the pin holes 32 and 32, the pin holes 33 and33, and the spring receiving holes 34 and 43 are respectively formed onan axis extending perpendicular to the side plates 2 a ₁ and 2 a ₂.

A cable guide 6 having a pin hole 35 and an arcuate guide part 36 issecured to one side plate 2 a ₁ of the paired side plates 2 a ₁ and 2 a₂ with the pin hole 35 aligned with the pin hole 31. The pin hole 24 ofthe bracket 1 and the pin hole 31 of the lever 2 are aligned and a pin11 is inserted into the pin holes 24 and 31, whereby the lever 2 isrotatable about the pivot pin 11 in a vertical direction (in thedirection of arrows A-B in FIG. 1) with respect to the bracket 1 betweenfirst and second positions. A brake wire 10 is trained about the cableguide 6 and an adjuster bolt 9 provided at an end of the brake wire 10is secured to an end of the guide part 36, so that the brake wire 10 ispulled in a lifting direction thereof (the direction of the arrow A)along with the rotation of the lever 2 to exert a prescribed operatingforce on a brake connected to the other end of the brake wire 10,thereby generating a braking force. Namely, when the lever 2 is in thefirst position, the brake is in non-operative state, and when the lever2 is in the second position, the brake is generating the maximum brakingforce.

Latch Pawl Member 4:

The latch pawl member 4 is formed of a generally oblong plate and has aoblong pin receiving hole 41 formed at a generally center part with itsmajor axis generally coinciding with the longitudinal direction thereof.The latch pawl member 4 has an engaging part 42 having a linear latchface and a guide part 46 continuing from an end of the engaging part 42and projecting obliquely upward at one end in the longitudinal directionthereof. At the other end in the longitudinal direction of the latchpawl member is formed an arcuate cam part 44. The latch pawl member 4also has a latch pawl 43 selectively engageable with the pawl teeth 3 aof the pawl teeth member 3 at one end in the lateral direction thereofand a notch like latch part 45 at the other end in the lateral directionthereof.

A pin 12 fitted in the pin hole 32 of the lever 2 is inserted into thepin receiving hole 41, whereby the latch pawl member 4 is swingablysupported on the lever 2. This makes the latch pawl member 4 rotatablein the direction of arrows E-F about the pin 12 and slidable in thedirection of the major axis of the pin receiving hole 41 (the directionof the arrows C-D). For the sake of convenience for explanation, theposition of the latch pawl member 4 when it is slid in the direction ofthe arrow C with respect to the pin 12 and the position of the latchpawl member 4 when it is slid in the direction of the arrow D withrespect to the pin 12 are hereinafter referred to as “first position”and “second position”, respectively, as shown in FIG. 3.

In the latch part 45 of the latch pawl member 4 is received an actionend 7 a of a first urging member 7 comprising a torsion spring. A pairof right and left support ends 7 b and 7 b of the first urging member 7are received in the spring receiving holes 34 and 34, respectively, ofthe lever 2. Thus, the position of the action end 7 a relative to thesupport ends 7 b and 7 b is changed along with rotation of the latchpawl member 4, so that, as mentioned below, a rotational urging force inthe direction of the arrow E and a rotational urging force in thedirection of the arrow F are selectively exerted on the latch pawlmember 4 depending upon the change of the position of the action end 7 arelative to the support ends 7 b and 7 b (see FIG. 3).

In this embodiment, the spring receiving hole 34 of the lever 2 ispositioned on a line passing through the pin hole 31 and the pin hole 32(which will be hereinafter referred to as “reference line L”) as shownin FIG. 1. However, the spring receiving hole 34 may not necessarilypositioned on the reference line L as long as it is in such a positionthat the action end 7 a of the first urging member 7 is selectivelypositioned above and below the reference line L in accordance with themovement of the latch pawl member 4 (in other words, in such a positionthat the latch pawl member 4 can be rotated forward and backward aboutthe pin 12 by the urging force exerted on the action end 7 a of thefirst urging member 7).

Position Changing Member 5:

The position changing member 5 is formed of an oblong plate material asshown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 and has a pin receiving hole 51having an arcuate shape at a position near one end in the longitudinaldirection thereof. On the other end side in the longitudinal directionof the Latch pawl member 4, there are provided a stopper part 52 withwhich the engaging part 42 of the latch pawl member 4 is engaged and afirst and second latch pawls 53 and 54 located on both sides of thestopper part 52. The first and second latch pawls, which are selectivelyengaged with the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 3 as describedlater, have no function for maintaining a position relative to the pawlteeth member 3 (namely, locking function) even in this engaged state.

The position changing member 5 is disposed in the vicinity of the latchpawl member 4 and in opposed relation therewith. The pin 12 fitted inthe pin hole 32 of the lever 2 is inserted into the pin receiving hole51, whereby the position changing member 5 is swingably supported on thelever 2 as is the case with the latch pawl member 4. This makes theposition changing member 5 rotatable about the pin 12 in the directionsof the arrows E-F and slidable along the arc of the pin receiving hole51 (the directions of the arrows G-H, for convenience's sake). Theposition of the position changing member 45 when it is slid in thedirection of the arrow G with respect to the pin 12 and the position ofthe are position changing member 45 when it is slid in the direction ofthe arrow H will be hereinafter referred to as “first position” and“second position”, respectively, for the sake of convenience forexplanation.

In the vicinity of the second latch pawl 54 of the position changingmember 5 is formed a spring receiving hole 55, to which one end of asecond urging member 8 comprising a coil spring is connected. The otherend of the second urging member 8 is connected to the pin 13 inserted inthe pin holes 33 of the lever 2. Thus, the position changing member 5 isnormally rotationally urged in the direction of the arrow E by a springforce of the second urging member 8 (see FIG. 4). The spring force ofthe first urging member 7 is set at a value which is larger than that ofthe second urging member 8.

Description of Operation

The operation of the brake operating device Z₁ according to the firstembodiment will be hereinafter described with reference to FIG. 1 andFIG. 5 to FIG. 11.

(1) Non-Operative State (See FIG. 1 and FIG. 5)

The non-operative state shown in FIG. 5 is a state in which no brakingforce is applied to the brake as when the vehicle is running. The lever2 has been rotated at maximum in the direction of the arrow B as shownin FIG. 1. In this non-operative state, since the action end 7 a of thefirst urging member 7 is positioned below the reference line L as shownin FIG. 5, the latch pawl member 4 has been forced downward by an urgingforce exerted on the action end 7 a of the first urging member 7 intothe “second position” and is normally rotationally urged in thedirection of the arrow E. The position changing member 5 has been forcedupward by an urging force of the second urging member 8 into the “firstposition” and the stopper part 52 abuts on the engaging part 42 of thelatch pawl member 4. Thus, the latch pawl 43 abuts on the guide part 3 bof the pawl teeth member 3 and does not inhibit the lever 2 fromrotating at all. At this time, the cam part 44 of the latch pawl member4 is positioned in the vicinity of a guide part 23 of the bracket 1 andin opposed relation therewith.

(2) At the Time of Braking Operation from Non-Operative State (See FIG.5 to FIG. 7)

When the lever 2 is lifted from the non-operative state shown in FIG. 5in the lifting direction thereof and rotated in the direction of thearrow A, the latch pawl 43 of the latch pawl member 4 is moved from theside of the guide part 3 b to the side of the pawl teeth 3 a by anupward movement of the latch pawl member 4 along with the rotation ofthe lever 2, and moved on the pawl teeth 3 a repeating engagementtherewith and disengagement therefrom while the rotating operation ofthe lever 2 is being continued (the state shown in FIG. 6). At thistime, the latch pawl member 4 is urged by the urging force of the firsturging member 7 such that the latch pawl 43 is constantly pressedagainst the pawl teeth 3 a.

When the rotating operation of the pedal 2 in the lifting directionthereof is ceased and the rotating operational force applied thereto isreleased, a tensile force of the brake wire 10 is exerted on the lever2, which then receives a restoring rotational force in the direction ofthe arrow B. At this time, the pin 12 secured to the lever 2 is moveddownward together therewith, and the latch pawl member 4 is shifted fromthe “second position” shown in FIG. 6 to the “first position” shown inFIG. 7. The latch pawl 43 of the latch pawl member 4 is locked with aspecific tooth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 4 by a pressing force causedby the tensile force of the brake wire cable 10 applied via the pin 12and maintained in that position. Namely, the braking force correspondingto the amount of rotation of the lever 2 is maintained (namely, in amaintained state after the completion of the braking operation).

At this time, the action end 7 a of the first urging member 7 is movedfrom below (see FIG. 6) to above (see FIG. 7) the reference line L alongwith the movement of the latch pawl member 4 from the “second position”to the “first position”, and an urging force generated at the action end7 a of the first urging member 7 urges the latch pawl member 4 in thedirection of the arrow F (namely, in such a direction that the latchpawl 43 is moved away from the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member3). However, the urging force of the first urging member 7 is smallerthan that caused by the tensile force of the brake wire 10, so that thelatch pawl member 4 is maintained in the position with the latch pawl 43in locking engagement with the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member43 irrespective of the urging force of the first urging member 7. Theposition of the latch pawl member 4 at this time is the locked positionmentioned in claims.

(3) Releasing Operation of Braking Maintained State (See FIG. 8)

When the braking maintained state shown in FIG. 7 is released prior toreleasing the braking force to permit the vehicle to run or conductingadditional lifting of the lever 2 to increase the braking force, thelever 2 is first slightly lifted from the rotational position in thebraking maintained state in the lifting direction thereof and rotated inthe direction of the arrow A by a prescribed amount as shown in FIG. 8.The “prescribed amount” is an amount capable of releasing the lockingengagement of the latch pawl 43 with the pawl teeth 3 a.

Then, since the pressing force exerted between the latch pawl 43 of thelatch pawl member 4 and the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 3 isvanished, the latch pawl member 4 is rotated in the direction of thearrow F by the urging force of the first urging member 7 and the lockingengagement of the latch pawl 43 with the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawlteeth member 3 is released. The position of the latch pawl member 4 atthis time is the “unlocked position” mentioned in the claims.

At this time, along with the rotation of the latch pawl member 4 in thedirection of the arrow F, the rotational force thereof is transmittedvia the engaging part 42 of the latch pawl member 4 to the stopper part52 of the position changing member 5, so that the position changingmember 5 is rotated in the direction of the arrow F against the urgingforce of the second urging member 8 and the second latch pawl 53 thereofis brought into engagement with one of the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawlteeth member 4, whereby the position changing member 5 is inhibited fromfurther rotating in the direction of the arrow F.

The second latch pawl 53 of the position changing member 5 is pressedagainst the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 3 by the differencebetween the urging force of the first urging member 7 and the urgingforce of the second urging member 8, so that the position changingmember 5 and the latch pawl member 4 are both rotatable in the directionof the arrow E.

(4) Operation for Releasing Braking Force (See FIG. 8 and FIG. 9)

In order to vanish the braking force by rotating the lever 2 in thedirection of the arrow B from the state in which the braking has beenreleased, it is only necessary that the lever 2 is rotated in thedirection of the arrow B by the tensile force of the brake wire 10 fromthe state shown in FIG. 8 (the state in which the braking is released).

Along with the rotating operation of the lever 2 in the direction of thearrow B, the second latch pawl 53 of the position changing member 4 isslid on the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 3 repeatingengagement therewith and disengagement therefrom to allow the lever 2 torotate in the direction of the arrow B. When the latch pawl member 4 ismoved downward along with the rotation of the lever 2 in the directionof the arrow B and the latch pawl 43 thereof is moved away from theposition corresponding to the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 3to the side of the guide part 3 b, the action end 7 a of the firsturging member 7 is moved from above the reference line L (the stateshown in FIG. 8) to below the reference line L (the state shown in FIG.9) as shown in FIG. 9 and the urging force of the first urging member 7acts to urge the latch pawl member 4 in the direction of the arrow E.Along with the rotation of the latch pawl member 4 in the direction ofthe arrow E by the urging force of the first urging member 7, theposition changing member 5 is rotated in the direction of the arrow E bythe urging force of the second urging member 8, whereby the first latchpawl 53 thereof is moved away from the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teethmember 3.

When the lever 2 is further rotated in the direction of the arrow B fromthe above state, the cam part 44 of the latch pawl member 44 is broughtinto contact with the guide part 23 of the bracket 1 and the latch pawlmember 4 is forcibly rotated in the direction of the arrow E by apressing force of the guide part 23. Then, when the lever 2 is rotatedat maximum in the direction of the arrow B to reach its first position,the latch pawl 43 of the latch pawl member 4 is brought into contactwith the guide part 3 b of the pawl teeth member 3, whereby the brakeoperating device Z₁ is set in the non-operative state shown in FIG. 5.Thereby, the braking force is completely released, so that the vehiclecan be driven.

(5) Additional Lifting from the Braking Released State (See FIG. 6, FIG.7, FIG. 10 and FIG. 11)

When the braking force set by an initial braking operation is thought tobe insufficient, for example, an additional lifting is conducted toadditionally increase the braking force. Namely, in this case, the lever2 is rotated in the lifting direction thereof (the direction of thearrow A) from the braking released state shown in FIG. 8. Then, the pin12 is moved upward by the rotating operation and the latch pawl member 4is shifted from the “second position” to the “first position” as shownin FIG. 10. When the lever 2 is further lifted, the latch pawl member 4is moved upward. Then, the latch pawl member 4 is moved relative to theposition changing member 5 and the part of the latch pawl member 4abutting on the stopper part 52 of the position changing member 5 ischanged from the engaging part 42 to the guide part 46.

Along with the movement of the latch pawl member 4 relative to theposition changing member 5, the action end 7 a of the first urgingmember 7 is moved from above to below the reference line L and the latchpawl member 4 is urged to rotate in the direction of the arrow E by theurging force of the first urging member 7. Then, finally, the latch pawl43 is brought into locking engagement with one of the pawl teeth 3 a ofthe pawl teeth member 3 as shown in FIG. 6. The position changing member5 receives a pressing force from the latch pawl member 4 and is urged torotate in the direction of the arrow F, whereby the second latch pawl 54is brought into engagement with one of the pawl teeth 3 a of the pawlteeth member 3 in addition to the first latch pawl 53. Thereby, theposition changing member 5 is inhibited from further rotating in thedirection of the arrow F. Then, finally, as shown in FIG. 6, an actionfor inhibiting the position changing member 5 from rotating along withthe rotation of the latch pawl member 4 in the direction of the arrow Eis released, whereby the position changing member 5 is rotated in thedirection of the arrow E by the urging force of the second urging member8 and the first latch pawl 53 and the second latch pawl 54 are bothremoved from the pawl teeth member 3. Thereby, the transition to a statein which braking operation is conductible shown in FIG. 6 is completed.

After that, the lever 2 is lifted to a desired rotational position(namely, a position where a desired braking force can be obtained) androtated in the direction of the arrow A. After the rotation, when thelifting force applied to the lever 2 is released, the latch pawl 43 ofthe latch pawl member 4 is brought into locking engagement with one ofthe pawl teeth 3 a of the pawl teeth member 3 and maintained in thatstate as shown in FIG. 7. Thereby, the additional lifting operation iscompleted.

As the action in the braking release operation after the additionallifting operation is the same as that described in above (3) and (4),the description is omitted here.

As is described above, in the parking brake device Z₁ according to thefirst embodiment, a required braking force can be generated andmaintained by manually rotating the lever 2 in the lifting directionthereof. Also, the maintained state is released and an operation forreleasing the braking force by restoring the lever 42 in the directionopposite to the lifting direction thereof is permitted by lifting thelever 2 in the lifting direction thereof by a prescribed amount from themaintained state. Moreover, the braking force can be increased andmaintained by “additional lifting”, namely lifting the lever 42 by anamount beyond the above prescribed amount from the maintained state.

In the parking brake operating device Z₁ according to this embodiment,the braking force can be released only by lifting the lever 2 by theprescribed amount. Thus, in contrast to a conventional brake operatingdevice in which a braking force is released by pressing a push buttonprovided at an end of the lever, there is no possibility that a pushbutton is pressed by mistake and the braking force is unexpectedlyreleased, so that the reliability in operating the parking brakeoperating device Z₁ is enhanced for that.

Also, since the parking brake operating device Z₁ according to thisembodiment has no push button for releasing the braking force on thelever 2 in contrast to the conventional parking brake operating device,the lever 2 can be formed without consideration of provision of the pushbutton, so that the workability thereof is improved. This leads tolowering of manufacturing cost of the lever 2, which in turn makes thebrake operating device Z₁ less expensive.

Additionally, since the parking brake operating device Z₁ according tothis embodiment has no push rod for releasing the braking force in thelever 2 in contrast to the conventional parking brake operating device,the lever 2 can be set in an arbitrary shape without consideration ofoperability of the push rod in designing the shape of the lever 2. Asecond embodiment in which the freedom in designing the shape of thelever 2 is utilized to the maximum will be hereinafter described.

Second Embodiment

A brake operating device Z₂ according to a second embodiment shown inFIG. 12 is the same in the basic constitution as the brake operatingdevice Z₁ according to the first embodiment. The differences betweenthose are the construction of the lever 2 and the connecting structureof the brake wire 10. Description will be hereinafter made of thestructure of the brake operating device Z₂ according to the secondembodiment focusing on the differences. The other structure andoperation of the brake operating device Z₂ will be understood with theaid of the description of the first embodiment, and the descriptionthereof will be omitted.

In the brake operating device Z₂ of the second embodiment, the lever 2is formed of one plate material. A cover member 16 formed of one platematerial is disposed on one side of a base end part 2 a of the lever 2in opposed relation thereto with a prescribed gap defined therebetween.Between the base end part 2 a of the lever 2 and the cover member 16 aredisposed a bracket 1 including a pawl teeth member 3, a latch pawlmember 4 and a position changing member 5. An adjuster bolt 9 connectedto an end of a brake wire 10 (not shown) is secured to a pin 14 joiningthe lever 2 and the cover member 16 so that the brake wire 10 may bedirectly pushed or pulled by rotational operation of the lever 2.

In the brake operating device Z₂ constituted as above, the lever 2 isformed of one plate material, so that the shaping thereof is easy, thusreducing the cost. Also, since the lever 2 is formed of one platematerial, the shape thereof can be changed as desired (depending uponthe mounting position of the parking brake operating device, forexample), so that the degree of freedom in layout of the parking brakeoperating device Z₂ on a vehicle can be enhanced.

Same examples of the shape of the lever 2 are shown in FIG. 13 to FIG.16.

In a brake operating device Z₃ shown in FIG. 13, a grip 15 provided atan end part of the lever 2 is oriented in a direction perpendicular tothe extending direction of the lever 2. This example is desirable whenthe brake operating device Z₃ is arranged similarly to a shift knob ofan automatic transmission.

In a brake operating device Z₄ shown in FIG. 14, the lever 2 has an endpart 2 b bent and fitted with a grip 15. With this constitution, whenthe brake operating device Z₄ is disposed in the vicinity of a changelever on a vehicle body, a space which ensures positive operation of thegrip 15 and the change lever can be secured therebetween by setting thebending direction of the grip 15 in a direction away from the changelever. Thus, this example has advantages in its operability and surenessof operation.

In a brake operating device Z₅ shown in FIG. 15, a large offset amountis secured between the end part 2 b of the lever 2 and the end part 2 b(namely, the grip 15). This example is desirable when the brakeoperating device Z₄ is disposed in the vicinity of a change lever on avehicle body as in the case with the example shown in FIG. 14.

In the brake operating device Z₆ shown in FIG. 16, the lever 2 has anend part 2 b bent upward and fitted with a grip 15. With thisconstitution, the grip 15 can be set at a high position even when thebrake operating device Z₆ is arranged in a lower position on the floorof the vehicle body. Thus, this example has advantages in its layoutproperties and operability.

In the above embodiments, the pawl teeth member 3 is arranged on theside of the mounting bracket 1 and the latch pawl member 4 and theposition changing member are arranged on the side of the lever 2.However, the present invention is not limited to the constitution and itis needless to say that the latch pawl member 4 and the positionchanging member may be provided on the side of the lever 2 with the pawlteeth member provided on the side of the lever 2.

What is claimed is:
 1. A brake operating device for a vehicle providedwith a brake, comprising: a mounting bracket secured to said vehicle; amanually operable lever pivotally connected to said bracket for rotationbetween first and second positions, said lever being operativelyconnected to said brake so that a braking force corresponding to anamount of rotation from said first position toward said second positionis exerted on said brake; a pawl teeth member having pawl teeth andsecured to said bracket; a latch pawl member supported on said lever andhaving a first latch pawl engageable with said pawl teeth of said pawlteeth member, said latch pawl member being movable between a lockedposition in which said first latch pawl is in locking engagement withsaid pawl teeth and an unlocked position in which said engagement ofsaid first latch pawl with said pawl teeth is released, said latch pawlmember (1) assuming said locked position when said lever is rotated fromsaid first position toward said second position, to maintain said leverin a rotational position and (2) assuming said unlocked position whensaid lever is further rotated from said rotational position toward saidsecond position by a prescribed amount, to release said lockingengagement of said first latch pawl with said pawl teeth so that saidlever can rotate in either direction; and a position changing membersupported on said lever by a single pin and engageable by said latchpawl member so that said latch pawl member is shifted from said unlockedposition to said locked position when said lever is further rotated fromsaid rotational position toward said second position and beyond saidprescribed amount.
 2. The brake operating device of claim 1 wherein saidposition changing member carries a stopper portion and wherein saidlatch pawl member has an engageable end portion engageable with saidstopper portion.
 3. The brake operating device according to claim 2wherein said position changing member has a second latch pawl engageablewith said pawl teeth.
 4. The brake operating device according to claim 3wherein said pawl latch member is supported on said lever by said singlepin and has a guide portion which is located intermediate said singlepin and said engageable end portion and which engages said stopperportion when said lever is further lifted beyond said prescribed amount,wherein said position changing member carries a third latch pawl, andwherein said second and third latch pawls engage said pawl teethresponsive to said guide portion of said pawl latch member engaging saidstopper portion.